right now

right now

Sep 10, 2012

Work!

Today is the first day in months that we have seen a high temperature only in the 70's, and I can't even begin to describe what that does for my mood and motivation!  Even though these temps mean only one thing right now...WORK... the work is so enjoyable now.  As you all know by now I didn't do one thing this summer except harvest and canning, so that means the garden, er, weeds are about 12 feet tall.  Here's a quick post and then I need to get back at it!

Hubby's taking the back yard and the heavy initial "clearing" while I'm taking the front yard today to try and get some curb appeal back.

No joke... these ornamental grasses are 10 feet tall and were obscuring our pathway to even get out of our gravel perennial garden/seating area.  I had already forgotten I had a yard and garden beyond this "walled in" room!


This is the view looking out my back door.  This is a deck, so it's crazy how high the grasses grew this year, this area is probably at 10-12 feet tall.  See how easy it was to forget the garden mess this year?  Out of sight, out of mind :)

 

Paused to enjoy a flower in the barrel pond...


They are here!!!


I won't know how they work for awhile yet, I plan on using up the open boxes of metal lids first.

We had a great day at a big event here Saturday, but that will have to wait another day, I need to get back out and man my scythe!  I imagine it will take the better part of a month to get the homestead whipped back into shape and it won't happen by itself, it's already proved that :)  We are actually supposed to have a low in the upper 60's tonight which will feel fantastically arctic compared to the past few months, I'm hoping for an open window kind of evening!

30 comments:

  1. Oh gosh; it is so much easier to work in the 70s than in the 90s. Come April, we're running indoors before 10 am. Its just now getting cool enough (highs in the 90s - ha!) to even dare to go out during the day.

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    1. Sustainably Modern, YES! I am loving this cool weather, let's hope it stays this way and rolls right into fall :)

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  2. Wow it's a jungle out there! Glad the hear the weather is cooling so you can do some gardening finally.

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    1. Sparkless, it's only day 2 of the nicer weather so I still hold my breath and steel myself when I open the door to go outside LOL

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  3. Cooler weather is headed our way too. I need to get my painting project done and pay some attention to my yard and garden. My front yard is actually embarrassing, but I just haven't been able to keep up with everything this summer, and the garden had to come first.

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    1. Gran, that's good... I'm hoping most people weren't able to keep up this summer so when we have visitors they aren't too shocked :)

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  4. So glad to hear you're having nicer weather.
    Those ornamental grasses are amazing-so huge!

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    1. Sue, I'm thinking when I move from here I will never again wish for ornamental grasses! We had to burn the Pampas Grass out one year because one plant was about 12 feet wide at the base just at year 2!

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  5. Wow! You might have to wear a hat with one of those tall red flags on it, so they can find you if you get lost! That is an amazing amount of vegetation -- enjoy your cool spell, you've more than earned it.

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    1. Susan, wearing a flag might not be a bad idea! Hubby was out there this morning and when I went to talk to him I wandered around for a good 5 minutes yelling his name even, found him in the hops vine with his earbuds in LOL

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  6. Glad to hear you are getting cooler temps. We have been as well and I've also been working to clear weeds. I've given up on pulling some of the bigger lambs quarters and have taken to cutting them off at ground level with my pruning shears. If I pull them I seem to take a cubic foot of dirt along with them. And it's late enough in the season that I'm not worried about them trying to put up new little shoots.
    Good luck out there! That grass is amazing!
    Judy

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    1. Judy, glad you are getting cooler too! Hubby was snipping the Lamb's Quarter Trees off at the base with my clippers too LOL

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  7. Hey, another few weeks and an ice storm might take it all down for you ;) Winter- natures great landscape cleanup service.

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    1. Jane, no ice storms! Yikes those are the worst. I sure wish winter had done its job last year, then I wouldn't be in this predicament, I started the year off in January with a green lawn and tons of weeds LOL

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  8. Guess if anybody is looking for you, they'll know where to find you. Maybe you should hide out back there and have people clean up in order to find you. ;-) We've had a few nights in the 50's and 60's now and it's been fantastic!

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    1. Anke, oooh the 50's sounds awesome! It's supposed to be near 60-61 tonight and I've had the windows open all day so tonight will be great :)

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  9. I first thought of Doby Gillis when I saw your post. "Woooorrrkk" was Maynard G. Krebs reply to anything. You're too young to remember that.

    Anyway, I agree that the cooler temperatures really can change a mood. Good luck on that jungle.

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    1. DFW, I actually have heard of Doby Gillis but that's as far as my knowledge goes LOL. Bring on the fall!

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  10. Ah the poor mosquitoes will soon disappear, I know you will miss them.
    We only have one clump of ornamental grass and I have a ritual burning of it when
    spring comes, doesn't kill it, I think it likes the fire.
    Let me know if you have any tattler questions, I use them more and more now.

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    1. Sunnybrook, LOL we had Pampas Grass years ago that we had to resort to torching multiple times! I will let you know when I begin using the Tattlers :)

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  11. Someday soon I should get a box of Tattler lids like yours! Isn't it kinda weird what we get excited about?

    I didn't realize until this post that you actually lived in a tropical jungle. Heck, even if I let our weeds go our whole short growing season, I don't think they could get as tall and thick as yours.

    I'm very sure it won't take you (and whatever crew you can draft) anywhere near a month to return your yard and garden to pristine condition. Looking forward to seeing the "after" pictures. Pace yourself!

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    1. Mama Pea, I bet you got those Tattlers today, I'm so behind on blog reading again! But I do have ornamental grass lacerations to show for my bad blog reading efforts, I will have to catch up tonight!

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  12. I hope you enjoyed all of your cool evening.

    I'm still on a bit of a Tatler learning curve, although I didn't order enough!!

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    1. Stefaneener, that's what I'm afraid of... running out of Tattlers and needing more!

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  13. Hi,I posted about your garden on bubblews -hope that was Ok-I just used the picture of the jungle--no names ,places,just talked about the heat this year.I have been so dang busy. I come and check in on everyone -do you have to use your pressure cooker for the apple butter that looked really good.we lost the kitty Dan rescued ,I thought I was a tough old bird,apparently not.

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  14. Hi Erin,
    nothing to do with this post, just wondering how you preserve your excess jalapenos. Do they stay crisp or do they get soggy? thanks

    Lisa

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  15. Just started getting out myself. Gonna be a lot work getting the fall garden going.

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  16. So glad to find your site--and it's so nice to know that I'm not the only one who put off the garden clean-up! (We're in SC...holy heat!) I did get out this weekend to clean up the big herb beds by the kitchen garden, because I literally lost herbs--I couldn't find them because of the weeds! ;-) It's been a blissful mid-70s this week, so it's time to get back at it. Your grasses are great--who cares if they're blocking the paths, right?! Look forward to visiting your gardens again soon!

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    1. Julie, welcome! Enjoy the fall weather, we deserve it!!! I do love my grasses, they block all sorts of evil out there LOL but they are just spreading like madness, I think it might have to do that we never really had a winter last year, we had to mow our lawn even, hope this winter is different and kills off all the icky bugs!

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  17. Pat and Lisa, sorry this comment slipped by me! I pickle most of my jalapeños into rings, they are soft but we use them crumbled onto nachos and mexican dinners during the winter so it works fine. I do halve and freeze about 4 or 5 gallon bags of fresh (no blanching) jalapeños, I use those to stuff with cream cheese and sausage under the broiler for yummy junk food! Yes, we eat a LOT of jalapeños :)

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